Why Is Rwanda’s Leader Sowing Chaos in Congo?

卢旺达领导人为何在刚果播撒混乱?

The Foreign Affairs Interview

2023-06-01

32 分钟
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After the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Paul Kagame was widely seen as a hero—a rebel leader who came to the rescue of his people and helped stop the killing. Over the last 30 years, the Rwandan president has cultivated this vision of himself, and the West has been eager to believe it.  But for Michela Wrong, a journalist who has covered Africa for decades, cracks in this story became too big to ignore. In her most recent book, Do Not Disturb: The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime Gone Bad, she investigates the 2014 political murder of a former Rwandan spy chief who fled the country after a falling out with Kagame. Her reporting uncovered the true nature of Kagame’s regime, painting a picture of a dictator who will stop at nothing to silence his critics. Now, in a piece for Foreign Affairs, Wrong reports on Kagame’s meddling in eastern Congo and how his support for the M23 rebel group is risking a broader regional conflict. We discuss her reporting on Kagame, how Rwanda is working to destabilize central Africa today, and why the West is doing so little to stop it. You can find transcripts and more episodes of The Foreign Affairs Interview at https://www.foreignaffairs.com/podcasts/foreign-affairs-interview.
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  • I'm Dan Kurtz-Valen, and this is the Foreign Affairs Interview.

  • The Great Lakes region is becoming the sort of vortex of instability.

  • And the great irony is that so much of this is actually being initiated by Rwanda.

  • After the 1994 genocide in Rwanda,

  • Paul Kagame was seen as a hero who had come to the rescue of his people.

  • Since then, the Rwandan president has cultivated this image,

  • and the West has been eager to believe it.

  • But for Makayla Rong, a journalist who has covered Africa for decades,

  • cracks in the story became too big to ignore.

  • My colleague Ty McCormick talked to Rong about what her reporting has uncovered,

  • including in a recent essay for Foreign Affairs.

  • Today, Kagame's meddling in Congo has brought Central Africa to the brink of a wider war,

  • and outside powers are doing little to stop it.

  • Mikayla, thanks for joining us.

  • Welcome to the Foreign Affairs interview.

  • It's a pleasure.

  • So I want to talk about your new article in Foreign Affairs, Kagame's Revenge,

  • about Rwanda's support for a rebel group that's destabilizing much of the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

  • But first, I'd love if you could take us back and help us set the stage for how we got here.

  • As a journalist, you covered the Rwandan genocide and its brutal aftermath for the BBC and Reuters.